Google +: The future in social networking.

Updated on October 28, 2011

Before getting my invitation to Google +, a few months ago now, as I like to keep up with as much lastest tech news as I can, I heard of the new beta coming out called Google +. As I should think most people did, thinking this is just Google trying to have literally everything! As being the most popular search engine along with every other function you can think of, this was just Google being greedy, and with the likes and popularity of (dare I say it) Facebook for it's competition, the social network would never take off.

But as you probably gather from my uses of past tense, my opinion now is quite different. From now using the social network and getting a taste of it for myself, I personally will be permanently using this myself, instead of any other current social network, when Google + goes full swing. However for now I would like to share with you the features of Google + that I think make it impressive.

Circles

By far the main and best feature of Google + is the feature of circles. The idea of using circles is for instead of just having one large group of people you know, labelled as friends, as seen on Facebook or even followers, Google + has intoduced the system of circles which narrows those friends down into certain groups. For those people who you might not class as your friends you can put them into a circle (category).Either ones that are pre-set on Google plus, such as friends, followerers, family or you can create your own circle and name it exactly what you want it to be called. Then it's a simple matter of searching for the that person in the search box at the top and dragging their profile to the circle you want them in! If the person you want does not have a Google + account then you can type in their email address and send them an invitation to join.

Another very brilliant feature of circles is that when you want to post a status you can easily tick exactly what group(s) you want seeing that certain status,along woth the option of everyone seeing it. This is a very handy option, for if you don't want to share that status with everyone on your Google + account and is very accessable. This then gives you the choice, on your home page of whether to filter one of of your circles stream of statuses instead of everyones, which is a great help and narrows down to only the certain groups of stauses you want to read.

Format

Unfortunately it was only a matter of time before I had to bring back and compare Google + to Facebook, but it has to be done due to the similarities of the two. Although Google + isn't overall very much different to Facebook (as you can't do too much new with a social network), what certainly makes up for it and make it look completely different, and well... better, is the format. This makes the network look really slick and has everything laid out on the page in a easy to use format making it all the more simple to use.Even looking through photos is quicker and looks overall better, easily laying out your photos and a host of all your people in your circles photos. When posting a status you can also add links, videos, photos and using google maps can tell people in your status where exactly you are. All this can be done by a much easier way of clicking the little icons at the side of where you write your status.

Instead of liking someone's status google, I think have introduced a much better feature of clicking the +1 icon underneath the status. This is in a way a voting system to say whether you like it and counts them all up. I think this much clearer and even gives a small scrolling animation when you +1 someone's status. (That may sound weird but anyone who has got an account will know what I mean!)

Now having seen this beta I'm pretty sure that after a little amount of time, the majority of people using Facebook will be converted to Google + and have yet again another very popular service!

Will you be using Google + when it properly starts?

Comments 6 comments

Nice information. Google still has a power. Is google + will replace facebook? just wait and see. Thanks for writing this. Vote up!

Prasetio

marstoblog 5 years ago from Hitchin, England Author

Google certainly still does have the power, and I think it will slowly take over Facebook as more people are getting fed up with Facebook, but you never know, those are just opinions! Thanks for your comment!

jmartin1344 5 years ago from Royal Oak, Michigan

I am really looking forward to Google +, I wish I got an invite! ha.

Thanks for the informative article though. Google really is taking over everything!

marstoblog 5 years ago from Hitchin, England Author

That's alright! Yer I don't think it's too long before it launches and I fully recommend it!

Glenn Stok 5 years ago from Long Island, NY

This is a very interesting discussion of Google+. I have been hesitant to join Google's Social Network for a number of reasons.

As Paul Edmondson had discussed in a hub on Reputation Management, Google may rank us based on the people in our connections.

The stronger social connections are more valuable for Authority Ranking, as he explained. So I wonder how much control we lose if we belong to a social network controlled by Google, which can help us or hurt us based on who we let into our social circles.

Your explanation of the fact that circles in Google+ can be hidden from one another gives me hope that we can maintain some control over who effects our ranking and who doesn't.

For example, family members who don't have any online authority because they don't create content online, can hurt our ranking if we are connected with them. But based on what you said, I wonder if Google would dismiss them in the algorithm if we place them in circle with an obvious name such as "Family".

You gave me a lot to think about. Great work on this, Voted up and useful.

marstoblog 5 years ago from Hitchin, England Author

Thank you Glenn I see what you mean on the basis of how much control we have with Google's social network, which is a thing to think about and consider. Circles is a good idea I think for like you said being able to put them into a known circle. So thanks for comment and glad you found the hub interesting!